Don’t Get Rejected Before You Submit

To give yourself a head start you need to make your book stand out. Why does the publisher have to read it? Why do you believe in what you are doing? What is it about this book that warrants the attention of the book-buying public? If you are able to provide a publisher with this kind of information before they look at it, then – as long as they are enthusiastic, of course – you’re a step ahead.

First and foremost, you need to stop thinking like a writer and start thinking like a marketer. Can you condense your story down into one or two awesome sentences? If you can, you’ve developed a pitch and, depending on the policy of the publisher in question, you can use this to get people interested – either on the phone or via cover letters/emails.

Do you know which market you’re aiming for? Have you thought about how your book will compete with others on the shelves? Why is it different? Why will readers pick up your travel book on Rome rather than the Lonely Planet’s? If you can give a publisher answers to these kinds of questions (without them having to ask), you will pique their interest. Otherwise, if such questions come up and you have no reply, you will look naïve.

Look at submissions policies very carefully and use them to your advantage. A script that comes in clean, tidy, correctly formatted according to guidelines and with a concise cover letter will get more attention than the dog-eared, single-spaced tome with a rambling two-page explanation.

Are there small embellishments you can use to draw people’s attention – artwork, for example? Be careful on this, if you make the presentation too much of a challenge for a publisher, you’re shooting yourself in the foot before you’ve begun.

Can you do anything else differently to get people’s attention? Your ploys need to be subtle, because at this stage a busy publisher is doing you a favor by reading your work.

The submissions stage is one where books and dreams are made or broken. Success is a combination of skill, perseverance, patience and good fortune (and much more besides) – but the only way the final line is ever drawn is the moment you give up. Good luck!

So you want to write historical fiction?

Well, here are some clues for you to consider before beginning to write historical fiction.

Historical fiction has always been popular, with people gravitating toward novels set in time-periods in which they have an interest. But writing historical fiction is a lot more work than writing a contemporary fiction piece. Why?

These tips for beginning to write historical fiction will explain:

·      

·       Choose a time-period. When writing historical fiction, the time period should be very specific, not a vague decade within a century. Clothing styles, customs and social mores change from decade to decade and often even more frequently. Choose the exact years in which your book will take place.

Popular broad time periods in historical fiction include the Regency period in England, the Civil War period in the U.S., the medieval period  in Europe, and the late 19th century in either America or Europe. With the rise in Christian fiction, stories of biblical characters are becoming popular.

These historical periods have a large number of devoted readers, but any time period and any place may be the setting for your work. If you cannot think of a time period that you are familiar with, think of a historical person or character that appeals to you and see if that time period is one you want to write about.

·       Research, research, and more research. The moment in history that you choose should be very familiar to you by the time you have finished your research. You should know the common customs, the class system, the monetary system, the common living arrangements and anything else that may come up in your work.

One or two wrong details will cause you to lose your credibility fast. If there are obvious anachronistic errors in your historical fiction, you can also be prepared for bags of letters being sent to you, admonishing you for those errors. What are anachronistic errors? Basically, these errors involve the use of some item from another time period. For instance, the Roman roads were not called “highways”. The highway was a term adapted with the use of automobiles.

Do as much research as possible before you begin to write. Writing a story and then trying to adapt it to a certain time-period will come out sounding artificial and forced. The information you uncover will guide the story you write and take it to places you hadn’t considered before.

·       Give the characters an appropriate perspective. The best part of writing a novel is the characters and making them come to life. The characters of a historical fiction novel should have the mindset of people from that time-period. Characters are shaped by their experiences, family life and culture, which includes the time and place in which they are born.

Naming your characters is an important early task. Be sure that the names you chose are common for the time-period you’ve chosen.

A character’s general perspective on the world will be obvious in books written in the first person. If the book is written in the third person, a character’s values as defined by the time-period can be demonstrated through the character’s dialogue and actions, or through the narrative voice recounting the thoughts and feelings of the character. However, the character’s viewpoint is demonstrated, it should be apparent that the character is not simply a modern person dropped into a different time-period.

A good example of well researched and well-written historical fiction is:

Byrd, Elizabeth. The Immortal Queen. Random House, New York, 1972.

A helpful  book for writing historical fiction is:

Martin, Rhona. Writing Historical Fiction. St. Marin’s Press, New York, 1988.

THE PATH vol.2, number 1

                                  TABLE OF CONTENTS

                             Volume 2, Number 1  Summer, 2012

D. E. Z. Butler	Two Poems	7
Catherine Becker Reynolds Joanne M. Deck Paul Grella Betty Mathews Steven G. Farrell Isadora Dahlen	Michael and the Mother’s Day Present Life Lessons from the Littlest Ones The Marathon Poem The Crimson Druid of Wisconsin Mom, Where are you?	10  17  23  33  35  56
Eva Willis	Two Poems	65
Budd Nelson Steven G. Farrell	The Ancient One Four Irish-American Hellcats!	67  75
Tatjana Debeljački  Chris Wilkensen	Poem Skydiving off Skyscrapers	92  94
Tracy Werth	What a Boy Needs	101
A  Paul Bergen R. J.  Buckley Mary J. Nickum Contributor Bios Submission Guidelines Advertisements	On The Necessity of Being God Jessica Carter Sanford Book Review:  Steve Jobs	108 117 131 142 147

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THE PATH is available electronically for Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, and at Smashwords (www.smashwords.com); in print on Amazon and CreateSpace (www.createspace.com).

THE PATH is a publication of The Path to Publication Group, a 501(c)(3) non-profit literature and writing organization. Dedicated to supporting innovative, cross-genre writing, the press publishes the work of translators, poets, and other writers. We encourage interaction between writers and readers by featuring works that appeal to a wide range of readers in our semi-annual literary journal. By actualizing the potential linguistic, cultural and political benefits of international literary exchange, we aim to ensure the advancement of literacy.

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Holiday gift idea

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The Path

Today, October 30, is the deadline for submissions to Issue #2 of THE PATH. 

Submissions Requested

 Submissions* for the second issue of THE PATH are requested. Essays, short stories, and poetry will be considered. The theme for the next issue is "Urban Gone Wild." Please refer to the submission guidelines at www.thepathmagazine.com  when developing your manuscript. The deadline for submissions is October 30, 2011.

All Things Editorial

Kick start that manuscript you've tucked away in a drawer after the last rejection. You've put  much effort into it already. Don't let it "gather dust." Dig it out and give me a call. Let's  go over it and see what's needed to make it a vibrant piece. http://www.alllthingseditorial.com/

Revision Tips for Writers

Here are some revision tips for writers:

1. Revise big stuff first, make small edits later. This doesn't mean you should not correct obvious typos and grammar errors as you notice them. However, you shouldn't be actively tinkering with word choice until after you've nailed down the structure of your piece.
2. Put the manuscript down and walk away. Writers need at least a little distance from their manuscripts before jumping into revision.
3. Scan the whole manuscript without reading. Scanning can make big problems more obvious than a writer might not notice when reading closely.
4. Read carefully. Take your time and read every word. Then, read it out loud. This will help you catch obvious errors and check for smoothness or the “flow.” 
5.  Look for ways to be more concise with your language. Can you turn a 15-word sentence into an 8-word sentence? Can you turn an 8-sentence paragraph into a 5-sentence paragraph? Less almost always means more for the reader.
6. Use active voice over passive voice. There may be occasions for using passive voice, but for the most part be active.
7. Vary sentence structure. Don't fall into the trap of always writing: Noun + Verb + Noun = Sentence. Even if it's grammatically correct, using the same pattern over and over again will make your manuscript boring. Don't feel like you have to be creative with every sentence; just check that you're not falling into a monotonous pattern.
8. Save each round of revisions as its own file. Start with the first draft. Then, the second draft. Then, the third draft and so on. Saving these files provides a record of your changes and shows your development of the story.
9. Have someone read the manuscript. The more eyes the better, because they'll be more objective when reading, and they're less likely to make "leaps of logic" than you, the writer, might. It is always best to ask someone other than a relative, who naturally will be biased.
10. Print the manuscript for a final edit. There are things you’ll catch on paper that you won't on the screen.

If you use these revision tips, you'll be ahead with your revision process.

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